MINUTES OF THE USSVI NORTHERN VIRGINIA BASE MEETING HELD ON SATURDAY, November 12, 2016

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE USSVI NORTHERN VIRGINIA BASE MEETING HELD ON SATURDAY, November 12, 2016 The Base CDR, Chuck Martin, called the meeting to order at 1103 on November 12, 2016 at American Legion Post 162 in Lorton, VA and welcomed all members and guests. MEMBERS AND GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE Steve Bishop, Debbie Bishop, Richard Carpel, Cathy Chatham, Howard Chatham, Bob Glover, Brian Haller, Steve Jaeger, Michael Lee (guest speaker from GD), Chuck Martin, Bruce Miller, Mike Naughton, Mary Lou Naughton, Paul Nelson, Michael Niblack, Mike Varone, Penny Wallace, George Wallace, and Woody Woodworth (19 total) Holland Club Member Associate Member Guest The Base COB, Mike Varone, led all hands in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Base Chaplain, Steve Jaeger, delivered the Invocation. After a moment of silence, the Base CDR read the list of boats lost in the month of November. These were: USS Albacore (SS-218) Nov 7, 1944 USS Growler (SS-215) Nov 8, 1944 USS Scamp (SS-277) Nov 16, 1944 USS Corvina (SS-226) Nov 16, 1943 USS Sculpin (SS-191) Nov 19, 1943 The COB then tolled the ship s bell twice in Remembrance of the 21 USSVI NOVA Base members on Eternal Patrol. BASE HISTORIAN Mike Niblack read the prepared historical summary of the loss of the USS Sculpin (SS-191). Mike had read a similar synopsis on the USS Sculpin the day he qualified in submarines. She was commissioned in January 1939 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. She departed from Pearl Harbor on November 5 th, 1943 on her ninth patrol under command of Commander Fred Connaway. USS Sculpin was patrolling north of Truk to intercept and destroy Japanese Forces leaving Truk to oppose the forthcoming invasion of Tarawa. CAPT John Cromwell was aboard USS Sculpin to coordinate a wolfpack with three other submarines. During an approach on November 19th, she was discovered by a Japanese destroyer who pursued her and depth charged her mercilessly. USS Sculpin was seriously wounded and unable to maintain her depth due to flooding. The CO decided to surface to give the doomed ship and crew a chance for survival. The destroyer s guns destroyed the conning tower and killed the CO, XO, and Gunnery Officer, whose father was an Admiral and whose mother had launched the Sculpin.. The surviving senior ships officer gave the order to abandon and scuttle the ship. 42 shipmates went to the bottom and died. CAPT Cromwell elected to remain on board to preclude his capture by the Japanese as he was privy to ULTRA intelligence and was posthumously Page 1 of 7

2 awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The 41 surviving crew members were captured, however 20 of them died when the ship transporting them to Japan was sunk by the USS Sailfish. The remaining 21 survivors spent the rest of the war working in Japanese copper mines. MEETING MINUTES The minutes of the October 2016 meeting were previously distributed by . There were no comments or corrections. TREASURER'S REPORT The Base Treasurer, Steve Jaeger, reported that last month the Base bank account balance was $8, After paying expenses and receiving funds, the account balance was $6, as of November 12, However, $1, of this is Walmart restricted use funds, leaving the discretionary balance of: $4, The largest expenditure this month was for Kap(SS) 4 Kid(SS) supplies purchased from the USSVI National Storekeeper. COMMITTEE REPORTS EXECUTIVE BOARD The Board of Directors met November 2, and discussed: - Membership Holland Club initiation - Finances and year 2017 budget planning - K4K visits and future plans - Scouting Recognition program - Youth Outreach programs, and - PAO items. VCDR George Wallace spoke of the recent Navy Submarine League (NSL) Symposium held at the Marriott Gateway Hotel in Crystal City, VA. George thanked Steve Bishop and MikeVarone for helping at the table to promote our base and its community activities. The USSVI National Commander, John Markiewicz, spent considerable time with us at the booth and stated he was glad that we were out there promoting USSVI. Steve Bishop commented that George won an author s award from NSL and that as part of the NSL awards ceremony, the CNO presented George with his CNO Challenge coin. Steve also thanked Penny and George for the free booth space for USSVI. CHIEF OF THE BOAT Nothing to report MEMBERSHIP Steve Jaeger reported that the Base has 82 members, consisting of: 37 Holland Club members, of which 2 are WW II members, 36 Regular members, and 9 Associate members. Page 2 of 7

3 The Treasurer reminded all that both 2017 Base and National dues are due by December 31, Base dues are $15 per year, and National dues are now $25 per year for members and associates. The Early Bird period is between now and the December 10, 2016 base meeting. PAO Nothing to report VETERANS AFFAIRS Nothing to Report STOREKEEPER Howard Chatham reported that: USSVI Calendars are available for sale - Base Challenge coins are still for sale - The 20 th Anniversary Shot Glasses are available for sale. KAP(SS) 4 KID(SS) Steve Bishop reported that the NOVA Base K4K team has completed cumulative K4K visit number 22 to Fairfax INOVA, and cumulative K4K visit number 23 to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since our October base meeting. (We made our first K4K visit in the summer of 2010.) Penny Wallace commented that while visiting the Walter Reed patients, we assembled the previously-donated basketball hoop game for a young sibling, much to the joy of the sister /patient and mother. Howard Chatham commented that one young patient, who had been previously very quiet and reserved during infusion therapy sessions, opened up and talked at length to us and asked many questions. The attending nursing aide in the room was very happy with the positive effect we submariners had on this heretofore shy and quiet patient. The next scheduled K4K visit, and our last in 2016, will be on Friday, November 18, to the UVA Medical Center in Charlottesville, VA. The K4K team is looking into designing a K4K coloring book using submarine art work donated by USSVI s artist Tom Denton. We also intend to solicit funding from corporate sponsors, including Walmart, annually. Page 3 of 7

4 SCOUTING COORDINATOR Chuck Martin commented that: The Base CDR and Bruce Miller recognized Eagle Scout Jack Clabough on November 5 th The Base CDR will be recognizing Eagle Scout Benton Hunsicker on November 19 th in Fincastle, VA. NJROTC/SCHOOL PROGRAM COORDINATOR Nothing to Report DISTRICT CDR Nothing to Report AMERICAN LEGION POST 162 Wednesday, November 16th: The General Membership Meeting will be at 7:15pm 2016 NOMINATING COMMITTEE Howard Chatham (Chair), offered thanks to Bob Glover, and Brian Haller on being this year s Nominating Committee members. He opened the floor for additional Base Officer Nominees. None were added to the slate presented: He announced the nominees that will appear on the ballot. o Base Commander Chuck Martin o Vice Commander George Wallace o Treasurer Steve Jaeger o Secretary Steve Bishop and Bill Clements The Base Secretary, Steve Bishop, then described the election process: Ballots will be distributed from the Base CDR by . All base members and associate members can vote once for NOVA Base officers. Those base members who do not have e- mail addresses will receive a hard copy of the ballot by US mail. You must indicate your selections, then put your name and date on the ballot. SUBMITTAL: 1. You can snail mail your hard copy ballot to the Base Secretary by US mail, or 2. You can vote electronically by voting on the ballot you receive, then saving that completed ballot (with your name and date typed on it )to your computer or desktop, and then sending that ballot as an attachment to an you send to the Base Secretary at the dot org address on the ballot, or 3. You can bring your hard copy ballot to the December meeting by 1100 (blank ballots will be available in the meeting room before the meeting starts). Page 4 of 7

5 Balloting will be terminated early during the December meeting, ballots will be counted by the Base Secretary, results will be presented to the Board, and the Base CDR will announce the new USSVI NOVA Base Board for OLD BUSINESS CVS Pharmacies, including CVS Target Pharmacies, will no longer accept TRICARE effective 1 December However, Walgreen s Pharmacies will begin accepting TRICARE effective 1 December Phishing Scam Alert. Recently a USSVI member received an allegedly from Navy Federal Credit Union stating a hold has been placed on their account and to release the hold click on the hyperlink. Navy is dropping enlisted rating titles. All sailors will now be referred to by their rank, not rating. NEW BUSINESS Howard Chatham participated in the City of Falls Church Veterans Day ceremony on Friday November 11, Woody Woodworth and Chuck Martin attended the event. Base member Bob Frick has been appointed the Chairman of the USSVI Charitable Foundation Scholarship Fund The 2016 National Convention is formally closed. The financial statement is on the USSVI National website USSVI Scholarship application forms are now posted on the USSVI website News from the Fleet and previous information ed this month will be included in the minutes. The next edition of the American Submariner will be delayed as the editor suffered a computer virus and all of this edition s submissions had to be resubmitted. BINNACLE LIST Please keep the following in your prayers: Richard Lowry, Steve & Darlene Jaeger for Darlene s mom, Tony Poblete, Mike Naughton, and David Cooper. FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER Birthdays for the month are: Rod Batiza, Art Bivens, Richard Lowry, Vickye Lowry, Francis McNamara, Dennis Mohr, Eva Waylett, and the United States Marine Corps. The 50/50 raffle winning ticket was drawn by Richard Carpel. The winner was Woody Woodworth, who donated his winnings back to the base treasury. THANK YOU, WOODY!! Fair Winds and Following Seas: Bruce Miller spoke and said this would be his last meeting with us as he is moving soon to be near Pensacola, FL. His wife and grandson have Page 5 of 7

6 already re-located, the house is going up for sale, and he s headed south. He thanked us all for great times over the years. Fair Winds and Following Seas, Bruce! THE NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING WILL BE ON DECEMBER 10 TH AT AMERICAN LEGION POST 162. FOLLOWING THE MEETING, WE WILL HAVE OUR 2016 ANNUAL HOLIDAY LUNCHEON AT MADIGAN s WATERFRONT RESTAURANT IN OCCOQUAN. The meeting was adjourned at We broke for five minutes before we heard from our guest speaker on the Ohio Replacement SSBN Program. Base CDR Chuck Martin introduced our guest speaker, Michael Lee. Michael is a senior engineer at General Dynamics Electric Boat. After graduating from Northeastern, he has been working at Electric Boat since 2008 in hull & external structures, primarily supporting Virginia class submarine new construction and the S6G moored training ship conversion program. Currently, he is on a rotational assignment at Electric Boat s Washington office supporting government relations and the Submarine Industrial Base Council. Michael spoke to us with Power Point charts on the following items and then he answered many questions from the floor. Why were there submarines in WW II? Why were there submarines in the Cold War? Why are there submarines now and in the future? For each time period above, he described in detail: What were the submarine missions and then what were the submarine capabilities that were evolved / created to perform those missions? Today we have: 35 LA class, 3 SEAWOLF class, and 13 VA class SSNs. Additionally, we have 4 Ohio class SSGNs, and 12 Ohio class SSBNs. It takes 48 SSNs to surge 35 SSNs, including the 10 SSNs that are already at forward presence. The submarine force has 54 % of the operational US strategic warheads, yet only 19 % of the strategic budget. There have been over 4000 strategic patrols made since 1960 by submarines. Only Trident D5 missiles are used today, and they are getting a life extension update. The VA class is getting Block Upgrades 1 thru 5. The VA class now has a fly by wire cockpit, much like an airliner. The bow sonar sphere arrays are being replaced by Large Aperture Bow (LAB) arrays, and there will be an 84-foot plug inserted as the VA class payload module in the Block 5 ships, making these VA class Block 5 ships some 460 ft long. Page 6 of 7

7 OHIO REPLACEMENT PROGAM This new class of ship will replace the Ohio class and will have a common missile compartment for the US and UK programs. It will be designed for modular construction with electric drive, 16 missile tubes, and a reactor core that will last 42 years. These Ohio Replacement ships will deliver the same capability as today s Ohio class D5 s. Construction on the UK version has started; US construction is waiting for Milestone B in the US. 80% of each ship will be built by EB, and 20% will be built by Newport News. Each shipyard will deliver its own reactor systems to retain dual nuclear industrial capability in the US. The VA class Block 5 ships with the payload module and their ability to launch tactical missiles will replace the four Ohio class SSGNs. However, the current build rate of SSNs has the US inventory falling below the needed threshold of 48 SSNs between 2025 and 2030, to a nadir of 41 in With both Russia and China presently re-energizing their fleets, the number of needed US SSNs will surely rise above 48 in the future. Although not official yet, the SECNAV has indicated in a letter that the name of the Ohio Replacement Program class of ships will be the Columbia class. At the conclusion of his talk, Michael answered many questions from Base members. The Base CDR Chuck Martin then presented Michael Lee with a USSVI NOVA Base Challenge coin and thanked him for his fine presentation. Final reminder from Steve Bishop and Steve Jaeger: your ballot and dues for 2017 are due at our December 10, 2016 meeting. Meeting Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Stephen C Bishop Secretary, USSVI Northern Virginia Base Page 7 of 7